PHILADELPHIA | American Commerce Center | 1,510' Pinnacle / 1,210' Roof | 63 FLOORS

[pwp]

Originally Posted by Cro Burnham

Right now, it's all a question of tenant credit and the rent premium tenant prospects would be willing to pay over market to be in the building.

Comcast Center is possible only because Comcast was willing to pay a 25%+ premium over standard Philadelphia CBD Class A market rent to have their own signature HQ tower.

ACC would only be possible if the main tenants were highly creditworthy and willing to pay similar premiums.

It's certainly possible.

Yup, just wait for the market to rebound. I'd imagine an organization in a sector that's somewhat insulated from the recession would be best position.

[Kripke]

No real updates but seeing how this thread has recently started talking tenants and the local economy I figured this was worth posting:


Monday, April 13, 2009
Ikea, BCF leave PA sites, Microsoft, Cozen seek space: report

Philip T. Eastman Jr, economic development boss over at Exelon Corp.'s Peco Energy Co. here in Philadelphia, keeps his power-selling colleagues informed about big customers coming into (and leaving) town, and shares his April report with us. First rumors, then facts:

- "Both Cira South and the American Commerce Center projects are still in the pipeline but will not be moving forward" soon
- "Ikea’s distribution center in Levittown will leave the area to consolidate to Perryville, Maryland, this fall."
- "Burlington Coat Factory will leave its (Bristol-area) facility to consolidate in Burlington, NJ This will leave almost 650,000 sq ft of distribution space in Bucks County open by the end of the year."
- "Gamesa is looking throughout Pennsylvania for a suitable site to locate a 38MW wind project."
- "Microsoft is looking to expand its 10,000sf training facility in Wayne to 40-50,000sf in the Radnor area."
- "There are still large tenants in the market looking for space including Towers Perrin, KPMG, White and Williams, Beneficial Bank and Cozen O’Connor," though other law firms are expected to cut back.

1) Suburban office market -- "Has finally begun to experience decline. Siemens Medical laid-off 500 people in Malvern, Chester County... Advanta laid-off 281 people in Chester and Montgomery Counties, Bank of America (former Countrywide) laid-off 109 employees in Montgomery County and put its 87,000 square foot facility in Hatboro on the market." Almost the only guy winning tenants out there is Brian O'Neill, who's leased 97,000 sq ft at Worthington near Exton to VWR International, and 64,000 sq ft to Turner Investment Partners. Both leave smaller sites nearby (West Chester, Berwyn).

2) Center City/U City: "Avid Radiopharmaceuticals leased 15,500 square feet at the newly constructed 3711 Market Street in the University Science Center. Children’s Hospital took occupancy in 15,000 square feet of office space at the Wanamaker Building."

3) Factory and warehouse -- "Torto Wheaton Research predicts... the worst is yet to come." CoStar Group shows Phila area industrial vacancy up 0.3% to 10.3% in the first quarter; flex vacancies up 0.8% to 13.5%; warehouse vacancies up 0.3% to 10%

4) Deals -- "A joint venture between Exeter Property Group and Strategic Realty Investments has acquired the 357,658-square-foot Unisys Technology Center in Malvern, PA, from Unisys Corp. for $19.5 million, or roughly $55 per square foot. " Unisys will lease back half the 1968-built complex on Swedesford and Cedar Hollow Rds. "A multi-million dollar renovation is planned."

5) Government subsidies -- Gov Rendell gave U.S. "green" stimulus cash: Bridge Business Center LP in Bristol, PA "will receive $1 million and invest another $1.6 million" to recycle waste heat. Sysco Food Services in Philadelphia "will match a state investment of $840,000 to construct a 190,000-sq ft expansion of its distribution center and warehouse" using solar power. Also PA Dept of Community and Economic Development gives Philadelphia $100,000 for a "comprehensive industrial district study" around Henry Ave. and Hunting Park West, which MCP and Budd Co. left and Tastykake is abandoning

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-p...s_Microsoft_Cozen_seek_space_report.html

[graupner]

wow, why was my post deleted ??

it was interesting, totally on-topic, not offending and discussing wether this building could be built.

Thanks moderators for making this forum a less interesting place.

[BigDan35]

Originally Posted by graupner

wow, why was my post deleted ??

it was interesting, totally on-topic, not offending and discussing wether this building could be built.

Thanks moderators for making this forum a less interesting place.

Good bye

[Dream'n]

Originally Posted by Pennsgrant

The only cities with more Fortune 500 companies than Philly are NYC, Chicago and the upstart sunbelt cities of Houston,Dallas and Atlanta.Keep in mind that Dallas is 3x Houston 4x times the land area of Philadephia which skews the statistics significantly.

Fortune 500 Companies

Philadelphia

Sunoco 56
Comcast 79
Cigna 141
Aramark 216
Rohm & Haas 295
Crown Holdings 325
Sovereign Bancorp 469


Boston

Liberty Mutual 94
State Street Corp. 225

Los Angeles

Northrop Grumman 76
Occidental Petroleum 123
KB Home 340
Reliance Steel 345
CB Richard Ellis 405

Twin Cities 2007 take away number 9:

1 UnitedHealth Group 21 71,542.0 Minnetonka
2 Target 33 59,490.0 Minneapolis
3 Best Buy 72 30,848.0 Richfield
4 Travelers Cos. 89 25,090.0 St. Paul
5 3M 97 22,923.0 St. Paul
6 Supervalu 117 19,863.6 Eden Prairie
7 U.S. Bancorp 123 19,109.0 Minneapolis
8 CHS 166 14,383.8 Inver Grove Heights
9 Northwest Airlines 195 12,568.0 Eagan
10 General Mills 213 11,640.0 Minneapolis
11 Medtronic 222 11,292.0 Minneapolis
12 Xcel Energy 251 9,847.8 Minneapolis
13 Ameriprise Financial 297 8,140.0 Minneapolis
14 Land O'Lakes 329 7,102.3 Arden Hills
15 C.H. Robinson Worldwide 349 6,556.2 Eden Prairie
16 Thrivent Financial for Lutherans 370 6,164.6 Minneapolis
17 Hormel Foods 403 5,745.5 Austin
18 Mosaic 427 5,305.8 Plymouth
19 Ecolab 457 4,895.8 St. Paul
20 Nash-Finch 476 4,631.6 Minneapolis

[Don098]

Ok, enough. Back to the ACC please. Has anyone heard ANYTHING lately? It's been dead quiet.

[Swinefeld]

Really. Enough with the city vs city crap. Currently Hill International is trying to land tenants. Given the current economic situation, this isn't going to be easy. Just be patient, they've come too far to go back on their plans now.

[NYguy]

Probably posted before, but I hadn't seen it..from KPF

[samoen313]

Originally Posted by NYguy

Probably posted before, but I hadn't seen it..from KPF

looks a bit like simtower

[Plompy Lfeata]

The parking lot is still located on the site, however these signs are now up (i dont know when they were put up, i saw them first today) a reassuring sign anyway

[Ninjawho]

Those signs have been up for at least a month or two...FYI.

[Londonee]

So after spending quite a bit of time at the Comcast Center i can now speak pretty frankly that INga's assertion that the ACC--regardless of its size---would bring too much density to a particular corner/block is absolutely asinine. It was pretty brainless to begin with to complain about too much density in a city like Philadelphia which should strive to increase its density pretty much everywhere save Rittenhouse Square and Old City on a Fri/Sat night. And frankly, after re-reading her article, it's fairly clear that she didnt do her proper homework, ie scoping out the scene, before making her claims.

At any rate my observation of this stretch of Arch Street is this: at present, it's the opposite of dense. Even with the addition of the city's tallest building, it is still so quiet on this street in terms of pedestrian traffic that it's almost awkward. It is also ridiculously quiet in terms of vehicular traffic. I have never once had to proceed to the 17th and ARch intersection to cross the street to Wawa because it's generally wide open to cross. Further, there is such a dearth of vehicles that i've in fact witnessed drivers flying through the lights at high speeds because they are thee only ones on the road! In a word, the lack of traffic and congestion can be: dangerous.

So standing on this quiet stretch of Arch street and trying to picture the ACC bringing too much density is bizarre and ridiculous. Trying to picture the streets jammed full with hundreds of cars between the blocks, pedestrians fighting to get around one another to get to work or grab a coffee...it just cannot happen. The ACC would be an amazing addition to the energy of this sadly quiet street in the heart of our downtown core.

[Aleks]

At first I thought this building was okay but I really don't like it now. Yes, it does look like the Freedom Tower, I won't say it doesn't. But other than that I think it's too plain and it isn't classy/graceful. Especially for a city like Philly.

[Hoodrat]

I really love this design...hope it becomes a reality.

[Plompy Lfeata]

At first I thought this building was okay but I really don't like it now. Yes, it does look like the Freedom Tower, I won't say it doesn't. But other than that I think it's too plain and it isn't classy/graceful. Especially for a city like Philly.

i mostly agree, while i would not mind seeing it built, i think a site of this size has much more potential than just a huge glass box with a smaller glass box on the side, i also feel that if the hotel portion is high enough so it can be seen from a distance it will look quite awkward. i do really like the lower levels though where it connects with the street, i just wish there was a better way to meld the hotel into the rest of the building instead of having it look like an afterthought. IMHO anyway..

[Kripke]

Originally Posted by Plompy Lfeata

i mostly agree, while i would not mind seeing it built, i think a site of this size has much more potential than just a huge glass box with a smaller glass box on the side, i also feel that if the hotel portion is high enough so it can be seen from a distance it will look quite awkward. i do really like the lower levels though where it connects with the street, i just wish there was a better way to meld the hotel into the rest of the building instead of having it look like an afterthought. IMHO anyway..

I agree, the hotel will just shoot out as an afterthought. If the top corner of the hotel was more slanted in towards the rest of the build - even if it still flattened out to an open space - that alone would make it feel like a more complete structure. But even regardless, build it!

[ethereal_reality]

The American Commerce Center is briefly mentioned in an article about Comcast Center in this month's issue of Architectural Record.

You can view the article online at www.archrecord.com
Click on Projects, then click on Building Types Study then pick
Office Buildings 0509.

[SSBMEXPERT]

So, how much longer till something new on this turns up? Anything different happen at all yet? It's been a while now... Seeing this thread die down so much makes me worry.

[Don098]

Originally Posted by SSBMEXPERT

So, how much longer till something new on this turns up? Anything different happen at all yet? It's been a while now... Seeing this thread die down so much makes me worry.

There's talk of downscaling this...check the development thread. There was a lot of discussion on it a few weeks ago.

[americanskyscraper22]

no! no downscaling!!!!!